


It's the Little Things

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode AU: s04e12 The Stolen Earth, Episode: s01e08 Father's Day, Episode: s01e13 The Parting of the Ways, Episode: s03e03 Gridlock, Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, F/M, Gen, a baby blanket, a rose, a woodchip, and a gasmask, i imagine Bad Wolf/young Rose looking like young Rapunzel from Tangled, mentions of other companions, one big ol' time loop, time travel stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 07:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20831690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Bad Wolf has been following the Doctor around for a while- and not just the words. A little blonde girl full of Time itself has been following him, gifting him with odd little presents, and preparing him for the future.





	It's the Little Things

The Doctor would normally pay better attention to his surroundings, but at the moment he was a bit too busy trying not to die as he was chased through a forest by scrawlets. Since he wasn’t exactly looking at the ground as he ran, there was nothing to stop him from tripping and ending up sprawled flat on his back. He groaned, and then glanced over to see what kind of giant root he’d tripped over. There was no root, though. Just a little girl with waves of blonde hair that went down to around her waist, hanging around her almost like a thin blanket as she sat up. 

She reached up to sleepily rub at her eyes, and then turned her head towards him. “Sorry ‘bout that.” Then she flopped back down and curled up into a little ball.

The Doctor just stared at the girl, very puzzled. She didn’t look older than four or five in Earth years, but the problem was that currently there should not be any human looking beings in existence other than Gallifreyans, but the girl couldn’t be Gallifreyan because she gave off no telepathic signature. And then there was also the fact that she was in what clearly looked like a 20th century English nightie, sleeping in the middle of the woods on a planet where the trees were considered completely sacred. 

Well, whatever was going on, there was no time to figure it out now. The Doctor scooped up the girl before she could protest, and went back to running. He couldn’t just leave her there to be caught by the angry scrawlets, who would have no idea that she was basically just a baby. She weighed hardly anything, at least to someone with the strength of a Time Lord, so she didn’t slow him down at all, but even just the brief delay had been enough for the scrawlets to nearly catch up. 

When they got to the spot the girl had been sleeping in, they paused, and the Doctor looked back in confusion. When he turned, the scrawlets spotted the sleepy girl in his arms, who seemed entirely unbothered by the situation, and then they all began screaming even louder than before. 

The Doctor slowly looked down at the girl, and then back up at the aliens. He took a moment to listen to the scrawlets, and realized that while some of them were still talking about how sacred the woods are, others had begun to shout something else. Things along the lines of, “How dare you touch the goddess of the woods?” and other less repeatable-in-pleasant-company sort of things. 

Without running the sonic over her it was difficult to say for sure, but the Doctor was pretty sure that the girl in his arms was just a human child. The scrawlets would have never seen a human before, and had apparently decided that she was a goddess because of that. And they must have found her in the forest, and so decided that that was where she belonged. How long had she been here? And how had she survived without anyone taking care of her?

While he was lost in thought, doing his best to ignore the high pitched screeching of the scrawlets, the little girl opened her eyes all the way, and let out a tired sigh before suddenly rolling out of the Doctor’s grasp. He tried to catch her before she could get hurt, but she easily landed on her bare feet, and then stood tall (even though she only went up to about the Doctor’s stomach, and was even shorter compared to the scrawlets). “He didn’t mean to wake me up, it was just an accident,” she explained in perfect English, a hint of cockney in her voice, and somehow the scrawlets understood her. She glanced back at the Doctor. “Tell ‘em you’re sorry,” she whispered.

The Doctor looked at her, and then at the scrawlets, who seemed frozen with indecision. He cleared his throat. “I am terribly sorry about all of this. I had no idea the forest was sacred until I touched that tree and you all freaked out. And I certainly didn’t mean to wake this young lady up.”

The girl nodded in satisfaction, then looked back at the aliens. “See? So leave him alone. And me, please. You’re not supposed to be in my forest, remember?” With the amount of force in her words, the scrawlets all nodded, and then turned to trudge back out of the forest, though a few of them did stop to glare at the Doctor over their shoulders first. 

Once they were gone, the girl leaned up against the nearest tree and sighed. “Aren’t you too early?”

The Doctor frowned. “For what?” He searched his memories- spotty as they were at the moment- but couldn’t recall ever coming to this particular planet anywhere within this time period, and he was certain he’d never met the girl before.

The girl shrugged one shoulder. “You said you’d pick me up when I was old enough to understand, but you still think I’m a baby.”

The Doctor startled, and then probed at her mind. He still couldn’t pick up even the faintest trace of a telepathic signal, and yet she clearly must have somehow read his mind earlier. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never met you before.” He wasn’t sure how to word all of his questions, so he stuck with that simple statement to start with.

The girl tilted her head up at him, and then reached out to press her hand against his stomach, feeling the velvet beneath her palm. “Oh,” she breathed out. “You’re wearing the wrong clothes- the wrong face.”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, and then gave the girl a closer look. As he did, he realized that her honey eyes were on the dull side, and didn’t seem to be focused on anything in particular. She was blind. But then how… “If you can’t see me, why did you think you know me?”

“I do know you,” she insisted. “Or I guess I will someday? But you feel the same as always. Up here.” She tapped the side of her head. “Except younger, I guess. Like I said, you’re too early. It’s okay, though. I don’t mind waiting. You should probably go before those fish people start chasing after you again.”

The Doctor frowned. “I can’t just leave you here alone. I have a ship, and I could-”

The girl shook her head. “If I leave with you now, then when you come to pick me up in the future, I wouldn’t be here. It’s okay, I’ll be fine on my own. I always am.”

The thought of just leaving a defenseless little girl by herself on an alien planet that had to be very far from her home didn’t sit well with the Doctor, but he also wasn’t going to kidnap her just because he thought he knew best. “At least tell me who you are. So I’ll know who to look for in the future.”

The girl blinked once, and then nodded. “You’re the Doctor, and I’m Bad Wolf.” Then she reached behind her and broke a piece of bark off of the tree she was leaning against. She tossed it to the Doctor, and his reflexes made him catch it. “Hold onto this. You never know when you might need it.” Then she turned and walked away, hands reached out to run her fingers over each tree she passed, and she didn’t stumble over a single wayward root. 

,,,

The last Time War was over, and the Doctor was the only victor, even if he didn’t feel at all like one. He couldn’t remember the details from right before his regeneration, though that was normal enough. What he did know was that the Daleks and Gallifreyans were all gone, and it had been by his hands. 

He swapped out his leather jacket for an even thicker, sturdier one, thinking of it almost like it was a layer of armor. Not that he needed it. If anything, it was the universe that needed protection from him, considering the magnitude of what he’d just done. 

Then he landed the TARDIS down in any old place, just needing a breath of fresh air. He opened the doors and found himself standing in the middle of a giant field of roses. They were in all different colors, and they reminded the Doctor of the arkytiors on Gallifrey, which he would never see again. And that, of course, made him think of Susan, who he would also never see again, and all of it was his own bloody fault and-

The Doctor realized that he was being stared at, and he quickly turned around. There, nearly hidden among the many plants, was a familiar blonde girl with pale brown eyes. “You’re still too early,” she told him. “But you’ve always been rubbish at driving.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know that-” then he cut himself off, because he was a Time Lord (the last of them, the last of them) and he was above arguing with a child. “If I’m too early, then how did you get here?”

She shrugged. “One of the universes many mysteries, I suppose.” She leaned over to pluck a rose, and it seemed to be naturally pink and yellow swirled together. “I’ll trade you this for the first thing you can pull out of your pocket.”

The Doctor frowned. “There are a million flowers here. What’s to stop me from going and picking my own?” 

Bad Wolf leaned back against his TARDIS. “Nothing, really. But this one is unique. Limited time offer.”

Even though he felt ridiculous buying a flower from a blind girl in a field of flowers, the Doctor reached into his pocket. Because he’d just put it on, anything in the pockets would have to be from whoever had last worn it, though he couldn’t recall whether it had been him or one of his many companions. 

His hand immediately bumped into his sonic screwdriver, and he withdrew it before he could tell himself to just grab something different. Of course he’d shoved his screwdriver in without even thinking about it. “You don’t want this,” he tried to convince her. “It’s just a random metal tube, not valuable or anything.”

She laughed, and even though the Doctor had concluded that she was blind, she somehow knew exactly what it was. “I’ve always wanted a sonic screwdriver of my own.” Then she walked over to him and held out the rose. The Doctor made the swap, though he had no idea why, and he looked at the flower in his hand. It was a rather unique and pretty looking thing, but it would surely wither and die within a few days at most. Not exactly worth the price he’d paid for it. Then again, the TARDIS could make him a new screwdriver easily enough, so maybe he shouldn’t worry about it too much.

By the time he pulled himself out of his own thoughts, Bad Wolf was already gone. 

,,,

The Doctor found Rose Tyler, and there was something familiar about her, but more importantly, she served as a great distraction from all the things he wished he could change. She was so bright and full of life that the Doctor found himself falling for her before he could stop himself. And even though that terrified him more than anything he’d ever faced, he continued to hold her hand. How could he not, when it just fit so perfectly in his?

,,,

As they traveled together, the Doctor began to realize that he was being followed by Bad Wolf. Her name was mentioned on distant planets and places that were millions of years away from where he’d first encountered her, but her name was used in reference to something different each time. And he saw the words scrawled across various things in the places that he went, some more obvious than others. When it was even spray painted across the TARDIS, the Doctor began to seriously question what was going on.

And it wasn’t just the words. On occasion, the Doctor would catch a glimpse of a blonde little girl, and even if they never exchanged any words, he always knew that it was her. He still hadn’t officially met her for the ‘first time’, and he found that he was actually afraid to. How could anything or anyone that followed him across the universe be something good?

,,,

When Rose asked him to take her to see her father, he wanted to say no. He didn’t think that it was healthy to get too caught up in one’s personal past. But when she looked at him with those sad brown eyes, he found himself agreeing, and they went to her parents’ wedding. He laughed when her father messed up his bride’s name, and then they left.

That’s when Rose explained to him what she really wanted. To be there for her father as he died, because no one deserved to die alone. The Doctor gave in far too quickly, and wished that he hadn’t, once Rose went and saved her father’s life. 

They were all camped out in the church, and he told her in no uncertain terms that she could not touch the infant version of herself, no matter what. He spoke to Pete Tyler, and was crushed to realize that the human was just a good guy who cared about his family, and then the Doctor thought of a way to make Rose’s changes permanent. Even as he told her that he was done traveling with her, he knew that it was an utter lie.

The Doctor peered over into baby Rose’s bassinet, something witty on his tongue. But as soon as he saw her, he was struck with an odd sense of familiarity, and not because she was a younger version of Rose. It was her eyes. Instead of those dazzling eyes full of life and love and adventure, they were dull and unseeing. 

Pete sat down next to the Doctor, and reached over to scoop up his daughter. “She’s blind?” The Doctor asked tactlessly.

Pete sighed, and tucked away a tuft of blonde hair that had slipped out from beneath the purple cap the baby was wearing. “Yeah, born that way. None of the doctors we’ve been to have been able to figure out why. Her brain scans all look normal, and other than her eyes, she’s perfectly healthy. She won’t have an easy life, but Jackie and I will do everything we can to help her.” He leaned over to talk to the Doctor in a soft voice. “Do you want to hear something mad? I think that your friend looks exactly like what I imagine Rose will when she grows up. Coincidence about the names though, isn’t it?” There was a shrewd look in his eyes, and the Doctor could see where Rose had gotten her cleverness from. “But your Rose isn’t blind,” he added as he leaned back, cradling his daughter to his chest. 

“No,” the Doctor said slowly. “She’s not.” 

It was only a little while later that the Doctor watched as Pete Tyler insistently held out his baby to the grown up Rose, intent on proving Rose’s identity to her mum, and the Doctor already knew how it would all play out. Rose wouldn’t just let an infant drop to the floor so she’d take the baby, and then even the church wouldn’t be enough to protect them, and the universe would end, and-

Someone hurtled across the room, faster than the Doctor could, and slammed into Pete, knocking him to the side.He stumbled, and Rose helped him stay steady so that he wouldn’t drop the baby. Then Rose quickly backed away before the offer could be made a second time. 

The Doctor stared at the one who’d just probably saved them all. Bad Wolf. And instead of taking the baby or pushing Rose, which probably would have been easier, she’d pushed Pete. And even now, was standing clear of both the adult and baby Rose. That confirmed an idea that had been building in the Doctor’s mind since he’d seen baby Rose, though he still had no idea how any of it could be possible. 

He knew Rose, and even though they hadn’t been traveling together for a very long time, it was long enough for him to know that there was no faking the joy and excitement she felt with each new place they went to. She’d never traveled through time and space before meeting the Doctor. Well, at least not that she could remember. 

The TARDIS would be finished charging up soon, and then the Doctor would be able to fix everything, but first he wanted some answers. He made his way over to Bad Wolf, who no one else even seemed to notice. “Who are you really?”

She tilted her head in his direction. “I’ve already told you, I’m Bad Wolf.” She fumbled around for a moment, then grabbed the baby blanket out of the empty bassinet. “Here, take this. Consider it a memento of my childhood.”

“But how is any of this possible? If you’re Rose Tyler-”

Bad Wolf shook her head. “I’m not. Or not entirely, anyways. But all of that is in your future. You’ll understand someday. You’ve lived so long already; what’s another few years of waiting?” Then Rose called out for him, and the Doctor looked to her on instinct. She told him that the TARDIS seemed done, and by the time the Doctor glanced back, Bad Wolf was already gone.

,,, 

The Doctor yelled at Rose for how stupid she’d been to get them in that mess in the first place, and she cried and apologized, and he pulled her into a hug, because how could he not? He explained to her that she’d have two sets of memories now, but that the version of events that never happened would eventually fade for her, since she was only human. He didn’t mention anything about Bad Wolf. 

Then he took her home, which was no longer on the Powell Estate, but instead in a small house not far from the estate. He watched as she burst in through the front door and rushed through the house until she found her father, who she immediately pulled in for a tight hug. He returned it, looking somewhat bemused, then glanced over her head at the Doctor. “Did something happen?”

“Dad, do you remember Sarah Clarke’s wedding?”

The man furrowed his eyebrows. “Yes. Did you go there? Why on Earth would you do that? I can’t imagine the 80s being particularly special. Not around here, anyways.”

Rose glanced back at the Doctor, and he gave a slight shake of his head. There was no point in telling Pete Tyler about his death in the original timeline, because it would only upset the man. The important thing was that it had all ended well (thanks to Bad Wolf), and Rose had gotten to grow up with a father. She’d also told him, while they’d been on the TARDIS, that in the new timeline she’d never dated Mickey. So changing time had apparently worked out for Rose and the Doctor equally well. 

As Rose clung to her father and chatted with him about adventures that they’d been on (some that no longer existed, and some new ones that the Doctor only remembered as he heard Rose’s excited voice talking about them), the Doctor found Jackie Tyler in the kitchen. He tried not to cringe when she pulled him into a tight hug and gave him a kiss right on the lips. “Oh, so you’re finally good enough to step foot in my home, are you? At least it’s only been a month this time.” Even in this new timeline, he’d brought Rose home a year late, though at least Mickey had never been accused of murder. It had caused tension in the Tyler marriage, though, and he was glad that he hadn’t actually been there for that aftermath, even if he could remember it like he was. “Ah, can I ask you an odd question? Was Rose born blind?”

Jackie pursed her lips together as she looked at the Doctor, and then she nodded once. “Yeah. Doctor, did I ever tell you why I was so scared when you brought Rose home a year late?”

“Well, your daughter had been missing-”

Jackie shook her head. “It’s more than that. It’s because it wasn’t the first time she’d gone missing. When Rose was five years old, she disappeared. I’d probably sound crazy telling this to anyone else, but she literally vanished right in front of my eyes. The police told me that I had probably just hallucinated from the grief of having a child go missing. We searched for her, made posters, went on TV, the whole nine yards. But we didn’t get her back for almost six months. She just showed up one day, no longer blind, and she wouldn’t- or couldn’t- tell us where she’d been all that time. We put her in therapy, and we were told that it was probably from the trauma, and that’s about as much as we were ever able to learn. She grew up to be a normal enough kid, I’m sure you know that, but when she went missing again, well. It felt like the end of the world, Doctor. I thought that I was never going to see my little girl again. And now, every time the two of you head out, I’m afraid that you won’t bring her back again. Pete says I’m just being mad, and that you’re a trustworthy man. But I just don’t want to lose her again, Doctor. I don’t think I’d survive it for a third time.”

For perhaps the first time ever, the Doctor found himself feeling sorry for Jackie Tyler. But Rose was more important (would always be more important) and he’d just learned a vital clue. He’d have to talk to Rose about it soon, before she could forget about the original timeline, but he knew he had to wait. He couldn’t pull her away from her father when she was clearly so excited to see him alive and well.

Even though the Doctor put up a loud protest at the domestics of it all, he and Rose ended up staying for dinner. And Jackie’s cooking wasn’t actually quite as bad as the Doctor remembered it, which meant that saving Pete had been worth it for that alone. And when he and Rose headed out again, the Doctor had a new appreciation for the hugs and kisses Jackie bestowed on her daughter, and for the look on Jackie’s face when she told the Doctor to bring Rose back to her.

Once they were up the vortex, the Doctor gave Rose a long, curious look. She raised one eyebrow at him. “Something on my face?”

He shook his head. “Rose, do you remember if you went missing in both timelines?”

She laughed. “Doctor, with your terrible driving skills I think it’s inevitable in any timeline.”

The Doctor didn’t laugh. “I don’t mean with me. I mean when you were a child.”

Rose gave him a strange look. “What do you mean, ‘missing’? Like I wandered off in the grocery store or something?” She seemed genuinely confused, and the Doctor knew that there was no point in continuing this line of questioning.

He finally smiled. “Nah, I’m sure it’s nothing. Come on, where to next, Rose Tyler?”

,,,

Rose wandered off- which was bloody typical- and the Doctor saw a cursed child who looked just a bit younger than Bad Wolf. And then he saw Bad Wolf too. She was leaning up against the side of the house the Doctor had just been in, head tipped back, eyes closed. She looked quite peaceful, and spoke without opening her eyes. “I wouldn’t let him touch you, if I were you. Not unless you fancy picking up a new catchphrase. ‘Are you my mummy’ and all that.” Then she was suddenly flinging something at him with a soft, “Here, catch.” 

The Doctor found himself holding an ancient looking gas mask (honestly, how did humans survive long enough to be one of the widest spread species in the universe when this was the kind of technology they had for protection?). “What’s this for, then?”

Bad Wolf snorted, and then opened her unseeing eyes to give him an amused look. “It’s for ballroom dancing. What do you think it’s for?” Then she straightened up and walked away before the Doctor could say anything else. 

At the end of the day, everyone lived, including that annoying captain who was far too handsome and flirty for his own good. The Doctor wanted to just tell Jack that his ship was already at capacity, but it seemed that Rose had already befriended the American, and the Doctor didn’t want to upset her by kicking out her friend (even if it was especially tempting when he had to deal with all the innuendos directed towards both him and Rose). 

,,,

The Slitheen’s power plant translated to ‘Bad Wolf’, and the Doctor found that he couldn’t be too surprised by that. Clearly that girl was intent on following him around forever, though he still had no idea why or how. All he knew was that he had a box tucked away in a special place on the TARDIS, and it contained nothing but a wood chip, a flower, a blanket, and a gas mask.

,,,

Rose refused to leave the Doctor stranded in the future to die. And of course there was also Jack and the rest of the Earth to consider as well. She couldn’t just leave any of them behind. Even as she begged for the TARDIS to take her back, she felt hopelessness well up in her. Then she heard a soft voice, “Need a lift?” and she whirled around. 

Rose’s eyes widened. There, standing in the doorway to the TARDIS like she had nowhere better to be, was clearly Rose as a child. She’d seen enough scrapbook pictures of her younger years to know. “What…?”

Rose didn’t remember ever standing on the TARDIS as a child. The girl grinned. “I’m Bad Wolf. I create myself, and today’s the day for it. It’s time for you to remember, Rose.” The girl made her way closer, and then reached out to grab Rose’s hand. “Remember who you were and are, and everything else in between.” 

For just a second, Rose felt utter confusion. And then she remembered.

,,,

The Doctor heard the sound of the TARDIS materializing, and he was just as confused about it as the Daleks were. He looked back at the familiar blue box just as the doors burst open, and then out stepped Bad Wolf and Rose, holding hands. Both of their eyes were glowing bright gold, and they were surrounded by a brilliant light that the Doctor could barely stand to look at without getting blinded. “I am Bad Wolf,” they spoke in unison. And the Doctor was afraid.

When the Daleks were destroyed, the Doctor hurried over to the blondes. He wasn’t even sure how they were still alive, but he knew that he needed to get the time vortex out of them. Before he could say anything, though, both of them shook their heads. The younger looking one spoke first. “Because we are two, we are stable for now. Come on.” They all walked back into the TARDIS, and the Doctor felt helpless as he went. Surely all that energy would burn Rose up, wouldn’t it? 

He paused when he realized that there was someone else already in the TARDIS. It was Bad Wolf- no. It was Rose, as a little girl. So now there were technically three versions of Rose in the TARDIS at the same time, though the TARDIS didn’t seem too bothered by that fact. 

Bad Wolf nodded towards the young Rose, who was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest, and she looked frightened. “The excess energy needs to go into her. I create myself, and must do so now.” The older looking Bad Wolf crouched down in front of the young Rose, and reached out to pull the girl into a hug. There was a golden light passed between them, and then the older one slumped to the ground, no longer glowing at all. She was Rose again. 

The younger one slowly stood up and nodded once, and then disappeared in an instant. The Doctor only hesitated for a moment before rushing over to Rose, and he found that she was unconscious, but according to his sonic screwdriver, she was otherwise okay. Then he looked over at Bad Wolf. “What’s going on?”

She walked over to him, and then knelt down in front of him and Rose. “The Bad Wolf that was just created has left to meet you all through time and space. I am the conclusion of that journey, and I’ve done all that I need to in this form. You need to remove the time vortex from me, though it will surely cause you to regenerate. You’ll fall into a regeneration coma, which means that you’ll need to bring me home quickly if you want there to be any chance of me growing up to be Rose Tyler.”

The Doctor was still so confused, but knew that now wasn’t the time for questions and answers. He knew what he needed to do, because if he was being perfectly honest with himself, there was almost nothing he wouldn’t do to save Rose. So he pulled Bad Wolf closer to him, and then leaned their foreheads together, coaxing all that energy out of her and into himself. The Doctor quickly pushed all of that energy back into the TARDIS, but knew that it was already too late for this body of his. It was amazing that Rose had survived with that energy for the hundreds of years that it must have taken to stalk him through time and space. 

The young Rose fell over, also unconconscious, and the Doctor sonicked her to make sure she was alright. He looked at the results in confusion, and then he understood. The TARDIS had healed Rose entirely before leaving her body, which was why she would return home with the ability to see.

The Doctor quickly punched in the coordinates to take Rose home, though it wasn’t until they were already landing near the Powell Estate that he remembered that that wasn’t her home anymore- and technically never had been. He panted for breath, desperate to get the girl home before he regenerated, and put in the proper coordinates. When they landed, he already knew that he was six months too late, but that he didn’t have enough time to try again. 

He scooped up the unconscious girl and ran out of the TARDIS and up to the front steps of the house. He didn’t want to just leave her there, but he didn’t know what else to do. He knocked loudly on the front door, and then rushed back towards the TARDIS. He watched from behind the cover of his ship as a younger Jackie Tyler opened the door and stuck her head out. She looked around in confusion for a moment before spotting the sleeping girl. She immediately dropped to her knees to check on her daughter, and the Doctor slipped back into the TARDIS. 

He started to punch in coordinates, though he wasn’t really sure of where he was going, and then he let out a sigh of relief when he heard a small groan from Rose as she woke up. She seemed dazed for a moment, but then quickly scrambled to her feet. “What happened?” 

The Doctor grinned at her. “Don’t you remember?” He hoped that she wouldn’t. The power of the time vortex was too much for any living thing (besides a TARDIS) and he wasn’t sure how she’d even managed to stay stable with it for as long as she had. He didn’t want her to remember everything she’d seen as Bad Wolf, and then burn up along with him.

There was a pause, and then she gave him a long look. “I remember, Doctor. I remember traveling the universe, across all of time and space, just to see you and make sure that you were okay. And to lead myself to the moment of my own creation. But my head isn’t killing me, Doctor, even with all that up there. I feel just fine. Great, even.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and hunched forward slightly. “But you can’t say the same. Every cell in your body is dying. You’re going to regenerate, aren’t you?”

The Doctor nodded. “I’m going to change, and I’m not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go-” He wanted to tell her that she’d been fantastic, and so had he, and he wanted to tell her about Barcelona, the planet not the city, but he couldn’t remember any of that when Rose suddenly surged forward, ignoring the danger of the golden energy that had started pouring out of him.

She gently pulled him down into a kiss, and the Doctor found himself desperately hoping that whoever he was next, he would still feel the same way about Rose Tyler. 

,,,

The Doctor’s hearts nearly stopped when the lever on Rose’s side was knocked over, and he already knew what she was going to do. He wanted to beg her not to, but he knew that he couldn’t let any Daleks or Cybermen stay in this world. But instead of letting go of the clamp immediately, the Doctor watched in surprise as Rose tied a piece of fabric to the clamp, and then wrapped it in a tight knot around her arm before she let herself drop. 

She didn’t even try to hold on to the lever, just gripped the fabric as tightly as she could, until the opening to the void closed, and she dropped to the floor. The Doctor hurried over to make sure she was alright, and then realized that he recognized the blanket. “I’d apologize for taking it, but if I recall correctly, this is technically mine. The TARDIS gave it to me before I left to explore this place. Good thing, huh?” 

The Doctor pulled Rose into a crushing hug, and found his big gob opening before he could even think. “Rose Tyler I love you.” 

She pulled back to stare at him in shock, but before he could take the words back, a big grin split across her face. “I love you too, Doctor.” And then, even though they’d kissed many times throughout this current regeneration, this time felt brand new. 

,,,

They brought Martha Jones to New New York, and then had to watch as she was snatched away from them. They rushed to the motorway, and there was so much smog in the air that the Doctor thought it would quickly kill him, even with his respiratory bypass. Then he felt something being nudged into his hand, and he glanced at Rose, who had her shirt pulled up over her mouth and nose.

He looked down at what she was handing him, and then grinned. It was a gas mask, an old thing from Earth in the 1900s, but it would be enough to let him catch up to the car Martha had been taken into. There was no time for goodbyes if he wanted to rescue his newest companion, but Rose seemed to understand that and had already backtracked into the fresh air.

With the cars moving so slowly, it was easy enough to hop on to the one that had taken Martha. He took over the driving of the vehicle despite the protests of the kidnappers, and brought them back to the Pharmacy Town exit, ignoring the loud honks coming from all of the nearby cars. 

When they were all off the motorway, there was suddenly a hand grabbing the Doctor’s, and a moment later, he realized that he’d been transported by a familiar face. She promised that she sought only forgiveness and redemption for her past, and then she led him to the face of Boe. Rose was already kneeling in front of the glass container, one hand pressed against it. Her mouth didn’t move, but the Doctor knew that the Boe was telepathic enough to have an entire conversation with her silently. 

There were tears on her face when the Doctor approached, and he wanted to chastise the Boe for making her cry. No one should ever be allowed to do that. But she reached out to hold his hand, and gave the Doctor a chance to speak with the old creature for himself. He realized what needed to be done to free everyone on the motorway, but before he could stand, Rose shook her head. “We have a little bit of time yet. Those people have been trapped for years. Another couple of hours won’t hurt them.”

Later, when the Boe died, the Doctor understood why Rose wanted to wait, though he wasn’t sure why she scowled when the final words were spoken from the great and ancient being. 

,,,

When Donna woke up from a pocket universe saying that she’d been guided through it by a child, and then she gasped out the name of Rose’s alter ego, the Doctor ran outside. The words ‘Bad Wolf’ were written everywhere on the street, including on his TARDIS. And Bad Wolf herself stood there, a small frown on her face. “I was just throwing out some garbage for you. I hope you weren’t too attached to your spare hand.” Then she laughed. “Well, emotionally anyways.” Then she was gone, and the Doctor hustled Donna into the TARDIS to take them to Earth. He’d dropped Rose off at home before coming to this market with Donna, and he wanted to grab her and hold her tight and make sure she was okay. 

But when he went to land, there was simply nothing there. He opened the doors and stared out into space, and he could see the stars all in their proper places- though a few did seem to have disappeared- and he double checked the coordinates as well, and they were definitely where Earth was supposed to be. 

The Doctor had no idea what he was supposed to do, but Bad Wolf had been there, so he went to the box where he stored the ‘gifts’ from her. The blanket was still there, having been returned after saving Rose from the void, though the gas mask had been broken at one point, and tossed away. That left a piece of tree bark and a flower.

The Doctor picked up the pink and yellow rose, which was still just as fresh and beautiful as it had been the day it had been given to him. Bad Wolf must have preserved it eternally, the same way she’d done to Jack. Which meant that it had a connection to Bad Wolf, who was partially Rose, and a grin took over the Doctor’s face as he rushed back to the console room, ignoring Donna’s many questions. 

He stuck the rose into the console, and then leapt up and cheered when a trail was picked up. His only other option would have been to go to the Shadow Proclamation, but Rassilon knew how useless those space cops were, so he was very pleased to find his own way. It was tricky, but he was able to follow the traces of Rose, and then his eyes widened as he realized that the planet had not only been dragged across space, but also locked a second out of sync to hide it better. 

But the connection with Rose was strong enough to bring the TARDIS to the right frequency to get in, and he landed on Earth for real this time. He regrouped with Rose, and several familiar old faces, and they were imprisoned at first, but set free when a bottle of water fell onto the caging system, shorting it out. The Doctor was too busy to pay much attention, but he did get a glimpse of the logo on the bottle- Bad Wolf Water. 

In the end, they were able to send the other twenty-six planets home, and then had to personally tow Earth. They left the Dalek crucible in the time lock that they’d created. It seemed a fitting punishment to trap them in the place that the Daleks had built themselves. And between Rose and the Doctor, there had already been enough genocide of the Daleks. 

,,,

Rose, Donna, Amy, Martha, and Clara were all relaxing on the purple-sanded beaches of Bextram 12, one of the nicest pleasure planets in the universe. They’d declared it to be officially ‘girls’ day’, and said that the Doctor wasn’t allowed to join. “Not just yet, anyways,” Rose had whispered to him with a little wink. 

It was tempting to just skip straight to the end of the day to pick them all up again, but Rose always seemed to know when he cheated. And besides, he didn’t want to walk in on them having any kind of… discussions. The Doctor was still traumatized by the time he’d entered the galley and overheard Amy and Rose discussing various sexual techniques. 

But it would be nice to see Rose again. Then he suddenly thought of the first time he’d technically met her (though had it really been Rose, or had it been Bad Wolf? He wasn’t too sure). The Doctor decided to go back to the planet of the scrawlets, and see if he could figure out how Rose had gotten there in the first place.

It wasn’t until he’d landed down and stepped outside that he realized there’d been a stowaway onboard. The little girl, wearing the same nightie she’d met him in, yawned as she followed him out. “We there yet?”

“Are you Rose?”

The girl nodded. “Yeah. Who are you?”

The Doctor wanted to bring her right back home, but then realized that he couldn’t. Rose was wearing the same clothes she had been when he’d first met her in his eighth life, but she wasn’t Bad Wolf yet. So Bad Wolf hadn’t kidnapped the young Rose from home, she’d actually rescued her from an alien planet. And Rose needed to be here to get taken by Bad Wolf to become Bad Wolf, or else there would be a massive, universe-ending paradox on their hands. “I’m the Doctor,” he finally answered. “And you’re supposed to be here, I think. But also not.” He hated himself for what he knew he had to do next. “Listen, Rose, this might seem a little scary, but do you think you could stay here for a while? You just traveled in my ship, which means that you’ll have no problem communicating with the locals, and they’ll treat you like a goddess, I swear it.”

She frowned, and reached down to clutch at her nightgown. “For how long? ‘Cause I do wanna go home.”

The Doctor gulped. “I’ll come back when you’re old enough to understand what’s going on, I promise.” He wanted to slap himself for making that promise when he very well knew that Rose would be stuck here until Bad Wolf came for her, but he forced himself to keep smiling. He wasn’t sure how Rose had been able to detect his thoughts when she didn’t have a lick of telepathy, but he didn’t want to upset her. 

Rose tilted her head down towards the ground. “But I don’t want to stay here all alone.”

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut and jammed his hands into his pockets, and that’s when he felt something that didn’t belong there. He slowly retracted his hand, and found himself staring at a chip of wood. He looked around, and realized that there was no forest around them, and when he thought about it, this had to be hundreds of years before he’d been here for the first time. Which meant that even though she was Rose now, when they’d first met, she must have returned here as Bad Wolf. So the Doctor had no idea how long she would have to wait.

He carefully reached out to press the chip between Rose’s tiny hands. “Grow a forest and the people will come to you. You won’t be alone. Not for long,” he hoped, “And then someday, you’re never going to be alone again because you’re going to be surrounded by so many people who all love you so much. I just need you to be brave for me right now. Can you do that?”

Rose turned the chip over in her hands, carefully feeling it, and then she tilted her head towards the Doctor and gave a determined nod. “Ya, I can be brave.” The Doctor nodded as well, and then pulled Rose into a hug, already sorry that he would have to leave her behind. 

When he went to pick up the girls, he immediately found Rose and pulled her into a tight hug the moment he spotted her. She gave him a searching look, and then understanding seemed to wash over her face. “Want to talk about it?” she asked softly.

The Doctor shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Rose.”

“It’s okay. You did what you had to do. It all worked out in the end, didn’t it? I never even remembered being missing, and in the end, I got to meet you again. Being able to be with you is worth any amount of trouble, I swear it.”

They returned to the TARDIS hand in hand, ready to drop off the other ladies, and then continue on their own adventures. The Doctor stuck extra close to Rose for a while, and she didn’t seem to mind at all, so he took that as all the permission he needed to be clingy.

,,,

The Doctor never saw Bad Wolf again, the words or the person, though every now and again, when things seemed to be at their worst, he thought he could feel the golden warmth of a nearby light, or maybe eyes watching over him from behind.


End file.
